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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Egypt plans to dig out 72-kilometer new Suez Canal costing $4 billion

Egypt said on
Tuesday it plans to build a new Suez Canal alongside the existing
145-year-old historic waterway in a multi-billion dollar project to
expand trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

The project, to be run by the
army, is a major step by new President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stimulate
Egypt's struggling economy and recalled some of the grand national
programmes of one of Sisi's predecessors, army strongman Gamal Abdel
Nasser.Sisi, a former army chief,
took power last year after ousting elected Islamist President Mohamed
Mursi and has since overseen a massive crackdown on Mursi's Muslim
Brotherhood.

The Suez Canal earns
Egypt about $5 billion a year, a vital source of hard currency for a
country that has suffered a slump in tourism and foreign investment
since the 2011 uprising that preceded Mursi's presidency.

Egyptian President Adel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army general, said that
the army would have control of the project, but that 14 consortia had
been asked to bid for it in January. Among the bidders were a number of
state-run Arab contractors as well the US based global management
consulting firm, Mckinsey & Co, and the architects James Cubitt and partners.The Lebanese engineering firm Dar al-Handasah will also be involved in the project.